When polls open and close

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can check their registration status, see their sample ballot and find their polling place at www.michigan.gov/vote. You must already be registered to vote — the deadline for registration was Oct. 8.

What to bring

Michigan law has a voter identification requirement at the polls. Voters will be asked to present a photo ID such as a Michigan driver's license, state identification card, U.S. passport or military, student or tribal ID card. The identification card need not include the voter's address.

Those who don't have an acceptable ID card can still vote by signing an affidavit.

Voters are not required to bring their voter registration cards and should be on a list, if registered, as long as they go to the correct polling place.

Senate, House races

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The Kroll family - Lilley (left), Todd and Jennifer take a selfie with state House District 40 candidate Mari Manoogian at Dick O'Dow's in Birmingham during election night party Nov. 6, 2018. Dan Dean | hometownlife.com

Kristine Baer, left, of Farmington Hills, along with Debbie Grefke of Livonia, campaign for Michael Liss, a write-in candidate running for the Clarenceville school board. Clarenceville schools cover part of Farmington Hills, Livonia and Redford Township. David Veselenak | hometownlife.com

Joshua Sims works with 5-year-old son Otto to get his youth registration done at the Plymouth Cultural Center. Otto voted for his favorite color, favorite food and favorite Pokemon character. Brad Kadrich | Hometownlife.com

Voter Angela Montgomery brought her 6-year-old son, Parker, with her to the polls, teaching him early the importance of voting. She voted at Grant Elementary School in Livonia. Darrell Clem | Hometownlife.com

Nancy Thompson (right) shows off her Matt Maddock sign, while Tommy Brunswick was out supporting Laura Dodd. Maddock and Dodd were opponents in the race for the seat in the state House 44th District. LeAnne Rogers | Hometownlife.com

Hometown Life asked candidates their stances on issues important to Michigan voters, including Michigan's crumbling roads, education and taxes.

See what candidates had to say in their own words.

Here's the link for information on the state Senate 12th District (Bloomfield Township) and District 13 (Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham and Berkley), and the state House 40th District (Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills).

The state Senate 7th District serves Canton, Plymouth and Northville Townships, along with the cities of Livonia, Plymouth, Northville and Wayne.

The state House 16th District includes Westland and Wayne. The state House 19th District includes Livonia. The state House 20th District includes Northville and Plymouth. The state House 21st District includes Canton and Van Buren townships and the city of Belleville.

Plymouth residents in both the city and the township also have a 20-year, 0.75-mill tax request for Plymouth Arts & Recreation Complex improvements. It's been an ugly campaign with both vocal support and opposition.

Village of Milford residents face two requests. One would raise the per-meeting pay of the elected village council members. The second would lower the current road millage tax, but extend the length of the millage.

Residents in City of Wayne will decide on their mayor and three council members. All are non-partisan positions. Running for mayoris John Rhaesa. Running for Ward 4 are Brian Ewanciw and Anthony Miller; for Ward 5 are Eric Cleereman and Kelly Skiff' and for Ward 6 are Christopher Gietzen and Phillip Wagner.

The city election is not without some controversy. Christopher Sanders filed to run as mayor, as well, but his name was removed from the ballot.

Schoolcraft College is asking voters in its district for a tax increase for general operations. Schoolcraft service students from the Livonia, Clarenceville, Garden City, Northville and Plymouth-Canton school districts.

Three Michigan ballot proposals

Marijuana is already legal in Michigan for medicinal use, as a result of a 2008 ballot proposal that passed with 63-percent support.

The recreational proposal would:

Allow individuals age 21 and older to purchase, possess and use marijuana and marijuana-infused edibles and grow up to 12 marijuana plants for personal consumption.

Impose a 10-ounce limit for marijuana kept at residences and require that amounts over 2.5 ounces be secured in locked containers.

Create a state licensing system for marijuana businesses, including growers, processors, transporters and retailers.

Allow municipalities to ban or restrict marijuana businesses.

Permit commercial sales of marijuana and marijuana-infused edibles through state-licensed retailers, subject to a new 10-percent tax earmarked for schools, road and municipalities where marijuana businesses are located.

Independent redistricting commission: Proposal 2 would take the drawing of Michigan's political lines out of the hands of the Michigan Legislature and move the function to an independent, bipartisan commission.

The Voters Not Politicians proposal would create a 13-member citizens' commission, made up of four Republicans, four Democrats and five people who identify with neither party.

Access to voting: Proposal 3 would allow absentee ballots for any reason, restore the option of straight-ticket voting, and allow a citizen to register to vote up to and on Election Day, among other provisions.

The proposal, called Promote the Vote, would bring Michigan in line with at least 17 other states — including Idaho, Colorado and Wisconsin — when it comes to same-day voter registration. That feature is one of the proposal's most contentious because opponents say it could contribute to voter fraud.

Governor's race

Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, the former Senate minority leader, and Republican Bill Schuette, Michigan's attorney general, are competing to succeed Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who can't run again because of term limits.

Whitmer and Schuette hold sharply different views on road funding, health care and education, among other issues.

Also running for governor: Libertarian Bill Gelineau, U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Todd Schleiger, Green Party candidate Jennifer Kurland and Natural Law Party candidate Keith Butkovich.

Attorney general

Republican Tom Leonard, the House Speaker from DeWitt, and Democrat Dana Nessel, a Plymouth attorney, are running to take over the office now held by Schuette, who can't run again because of term limits.

If elected, Leonard said he wants to expand the Attorney General's Office to include units that deal with cases of elder abuse and mental health, including how to divert more mentally ill criminal suspects away from jail. He also wants to expand the public integrity unit that investigates government corruption to include a role of overseeing how departments such as Treasury deal with taxpayers.

If she gets the job, Nessel said she will be a tireless fighter for the underdogs in society and won’t use the office to punish people, such as the tens of thousands of Michigan residents falsely accused of jobless benefits fraud because of a computer snafu. She would also beef up environmental enforcement and establish a hate crimes division to handle cases involving LGBTQ and other minority communities.

Secretary of state

Democrat Jocelyn Benson of Detroit is running against Republican Mary Treder Lang of Grosse Pointe Farms. Each wants to replace Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, who can't seek a third four-year term because of term limits.

A signature Benson campaign pledge is her "30-minute guarantee," under which nobody would wait more than 30 minutes to renew their license or do anything else at a branch office.

Treder wants a system in which residents won't have to visit a branch office more often than every eight years — when they have to get new photos taken for their driver's licenses.

Also on the ballot: Libertarian Gregory Scott Stempfle and U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Robert Gale.

U.S. Senate

Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow is facing a stronger than expected challenge from Republican businessman John James as she seeks a fourth term.

Also on the ballot: George Huffman III of the U.S. Taxpayers Party, Marcia Squier of the Green Party and John Howard Wilhelm of the Natural Law Party.

Michigan Supreme Court

Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court run on the non-partisan portion of the ballot, but they are typically nominated by political parties.

Two Republican-nominated incumbents, Justice Elizabeth Clement and Justice Kurtis Wilder, are seeking eight-year terms. They were appointed to the court by Snyder in 2017.

Clement, a former Snyder legal counsel, angered some Republicans when she joined Democratic Supreme Court appointees in ruling that Proposal 2 — which proponents say will end gerrymandering — met constitutional requirements to go on the November ballot.

Wilder previously served on the Michigan Court of Appeals and is a former chief judge of the Washtenaw County Circuit Court.

They are challenged by two Democratic nominees, Sam Bagenstos and Megan Cavanagh.

Bagenstos is a civil rights attorney and U-M law professor who served as principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice under President Barack Obama.

Cavanagh has more than 15 years of experience as an appellate attorney. She is a shareholder at Garan Lucow Miller P.C. in Detroit and a member of the Attorney Grievance Commission.

Republican-nominated justices currently hold a 5-2 majority on the court.

Also on the ballot: Kerry Lee Morgan, nominated by the Libertarian Party, and Doug Dern, nominated by the Natural Law Party.

State Board of Education

Two seats are up for election, with Republican incumbent Richard Zeile of Dearborn seeking re-election to one of them.

Also running as major-party candidates are Republican Tami Carlone of Novi and Democrats Judy Pritchett of Washington Township and Tiffany Tilley of Southfield.

The board currently has an even split between Democrats and Republicans, so the election could change the makeup of the board — and thus impact one of its biggest responsibilities post-election: Hiring a new superintendent to replace the late Brian Whiston, who died in May after a battle with cancer.

Also on the ballot: Libertarians Scotty Boman and John Tatar, U.S. Taxpayers Party candidates Karen Adams and Douglas Levesque, Green Party candidate Sherry Wells and Working Class Party candidates Mary Anne Hering and Logan Smith.

U-M Board of Regents

At U-M, two Republican incumbents face two Democratic challengers.

The incumbents are Andrea Fischer Newman, who retired recently from her position as Delta Air Lines' top lobbyist, and Andrew Richner, an attorney and former state legislator.

The challengers are Jordan Acker, an attorney and former Obama White House staffer, and Paul Brown, an adjunct professor in U-M's School of Engineering.

Also running are Libertarians James Lewis Hudler and John Jascob, U.S. Taxpayers candidates Joe Sanger and Crystal Van Sickle, Green Party candidate Kevin Graves and Natural Law Party candidate Marge Katchmark Sallows.

MSU Board of Trustees

There is a high interest in two open seats in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Two Republican incumbents — Brian Breslin and Mitch Lyons — are stepping down.

There are four major party candidates running for those seats:

Republican Dave Dutch is a former Navy special operations officer who has an MBA from MSU and is currently the executive chairman of PayLease, a national financial technology company.

Republican Mike Miller is an MSU alumnus who founded several companies, including Orchid Orthopedic Solutions, a high-tech medical device company in Holt.

Democrat Brianna Scott is an MSU alumnus who was a Muskegon County assistant prosecutor and now runs her own law firm.

Democrat Kelly Tebay is an MSU alumnus who works for the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Also running are Libertarians Bruce Campbell and Tim Orzechowski, U.S. Taxpayers candidates Janet Sanger and John Paul Sanger, Green Party candidate Aaron Mariasy, and Natural Law candidate Bridgette Abraham-Guzman.

Wayne State University Board of Governors

Two Republican incumbents face two Democratic challengers.

The incumbents are Diane Dunaskiss, former principal of Pine Tree Elementary School in Lake Orion, and David Nicholson, chief executive officer of PVS Chemical's Manufacturing Group.

The challengers are Bryan Barnhill, a member of the Ford Motor Co.'s Corktown Redevelopment Team and former chief talent officer for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and Anil Kumar, a urologist in Rochester Hills.

Also running: Libertarians Jon Elgas and John Hargenrader, and U.S. Taxpayers candidates Christine Schwartz and Marc Joseph Sosnowski.

Endorsements

Hometown Life made endorsements for several candidates and ballot issues. Here's our recommendations.